According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago:
According to the article if the Cubs start to struggle again, Alfonso would be very open to a trade but only to a list of teams he has provided the Cubs.
“I want to go somewhere where I’d feel comfortable,” Soriano said Monday….”[The Cubs] know what teams,” Soriano said of a trade this season. “We talked, my agent talked with those guys.”
Also, in the same MLBTR report there is a link to an article from GORDON WITTENMYER of the Sun Times who identified those teams as ”both New York teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies and the White Sox.”
Other than Soriano having the Mets on his OK list there is virtually nothing linking the two groups and with the amount of salary left on his contract, I think a fit would be a stretch at best. Just something to throw out there.
58 comments
TX
2/19/2013-10:43am at 10:43 am (UTC -4)
He bats RH, plays D as well as Duda and he can actually hit. Just a matter of that 30+ million and whatnot…
Stick
2/19/2013-10:59am at 10:59 am (UTC -4)
last time I read anything about him (quite a while ago now) it was reported the Cubs were prepared to eat a lot of the salary to get rid of him. That would be music to Fred’s wallet.
srt
2/19/2013-11:10am at 11:10 am (UTC -4)
GM Jr. part deux?
TRS86
2/19/2013-11:12am at 11:12 am (UTC -4)
Only difference is that Soriano seems to still have some talent left.
TX
2/19/2013-11:44am at 11:44 am (UTC -4)
They were going to eat a lot of his salary in return for better prospects. Which I’m sure this team is not giving up.
Plus, if you are taking on his salary, that basically nixes any chance of Choo or Pence or whomever.
Trust me, would love to see his bat in this lineup, but unless Theo is looking to just dump him for 50 or 25 cents on the dollar, I don’t think the Mets would move anyone of value.
Turner and Spin for Soriano with Cubs eating 3/4 of the contract? That I would consider.
Stick
2/19/2013-11:49am at 11:49 am (UTC -4)
depends who else the Cubs have that they want to use, and how bad they want to move on from him. But something like you suggest is entirely possible.
Stick
2/19/2013-10:58am at 10:58 am (UTC -4)
I suggested him months ago as a cheap (Cubs eating a lot of salary + minimal prospect back) stop-gap optin for a couple of years. No, not a GG defensive LF, but he does it RH with some power, and has a bit of speed left.
get him, and trade Duda to Mill. to play 1B.
darknova306
2/19/2013-11:31am at 11:31 am (UTC -4)
I like that idea. A lot.
srt
2/19/2013-11:56am at 11:56 am (UTC -4)
I remember one series we played against the Cubs last year.
Two well hit balls from our batters heading to the LF corner that Soriano tracked down. I was thinking ‘damn, reports of his aging legs are grossly exaggerated’.
Then saw him lumbering towards third or home (can’t remember which) and thought he looked just like Duda running – or he was injured in some way.
TRS86
2/19/2013-12:08pm at 12:08 pm (UTC -4)
I think the ultimate problem is that the Cubs are not willing to eat that much of his contract. Otherwise, the “feelers” that they put out at the winter meetings would have been more positive.
Stick
2/19/2013-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
big difference though. back then, it was just trolling for the hell of it, hoping a sucker bites.
now, they need to find actual PT for all their guys, and if he is not one of them, they need to get serious about making something happen.
Johan4Cy
2/19/2013-2:16pm at 2:16 pm (UTC -4)
He’d immediately become the best outfielder on the team! I’d go after that in a heartbeat, assuming it wouldn’t cost too much. .250-.260, 25+, 85+, and a veteran presence… can’t go wrong
kingman 26
2/19/2013-2:45pm at 2:45 pm (UTC -4)
Timmy Lupus would immediately become the best outfielder on the team.
kingman 26
2/19/2013-2:49pm at 2:49 pm (UTC -4)
If the Cubs would eat 40–60% of the deal, and nothing of serious value has to be traded, you do this in an instant.
He’s slow and not the best fielder, but certainly no worse than Duda, he is a proven HR/2B hitter, he certainly has succeeded in NY and might love to return, and he also might like being an elder statesman on a young team poised to seriously improve over the next two years.
If we could pay him 8–9M max each of the next two years, I would love adding him. Totally changes the OF and the offense.
Stick him in the 5 hole behind Wright in the 3 spot and to protect Ike batting cleanup and let him hit his 30 2B and 30 HR and drive in 90–100.
Could help the team possibly be .500 or better.
Sylow59
2/19/2013-4:05pm at 4:05 pm (UTC -4)
You around? I have an interesting exchange to share.
kingman 26
2/19/2013-5:25pm at 5:25 pm (UTC -4)
Yes sir! I am becoming less and less of a participant at the other place and am going to try hard to devote all of my energies to my home here for a while…just getting too silly over there in all respects…email me any time at scdoug@sprint.blackberry.net and I will then give a more personal email address.
Sylow59
2/19/2013-7:15pm at 7:15 pm (UTC -4)
Will do tomorrow. It has been a nightmare at work that has finally eased to a point.
Stick
2/19/2013-4:15pm at 4:15 pm (UTC -4)
totally off this topic, but I was just looking at the schedule, and realized that in the 2nd week they hit the road.
starting 4/12, they have 7 straight games (outdoors) in minnesota and Colorado. Most of them night games.
I am going out on a limb (and remembering early season LL games with my son in NJ) to say that they are quite likely going to be freezing their nuts off that week. Hide the important pitchers please!
srt
2/19/2013-5:24pm at 5:24 pm (UTC -4)
Some parts of the MLB schedule is certainly strange this April.
I’m sure the Padres are non too thrilled with having to start their season on an East coast road trip.
darknova306
2/19/2013-5:38pm at 5:38 pm (UTC -4)
It’s what happens when they make an abrupt shift in the dynamics of the season. By realigning the leagues and forcing us to endure the garbage of interleague every damn day, they’ve made scheduling a nightmare.
Bud needs to retire.
TX
2/19/2013-5:45pm at 5:45 pm (UTC -4)
I hate interleague play. detest it.
Add 2 teams or contract 2 teams. please….
Stick
2/19/2013-5:49pm at 5:49 pm (UTC -4)
years ago he did. Hey, Sandy needs a new job, right?
IMO, unless they want to add or subtract 2 teams (neither of which is happening), they need to standardize the leagues. And yes SRT, this means 1 common DH rule. And since no way in hell the union votes to get rid of it, this means DH is almost inevitable in the NL.
frankly, it is crazy that they have 2 different sets of rules like this anyway.
and no, not saying this simply because Duda needs a position!
kingman 26
2/19/2013-6:06pm at 6:06 pm (UTC -4)
The DH has to stay out of the NL.
I guess I understand the rationale that the DH position—with fat slugs like Ortiz who refuse to be in shape and play the field–does have some guys who make significantly more money than the reserve IF/OF or extra bullpen guy who would then use the last roster spot, but I detest the DH.
Most of the guys who DH could play 1B if they had to.
I think it would be a revolting abomination to have the DH in the NL.
darknova306
2/19/2013-6:07pm at 6:07 pm (UTC -4)
Oh I fully understand the DH will be in the NL within 2-3 years, most likely. I’ll loath it and complain about it, but I’ll still watch a dumbed down NL.
Everyone knew in the late 90s that more expansion was dumb, but they did it anyway. The fans have had to endure a watered down game ever since. I’d love contraction. I also don’t really care which 2 teams would go.
Too many teams, watered down talent pool, a decade of disgraceful willing ignorance of roids, a mid-season exhibition game that “counts”, an international tournament that happens in the middle of ST to help ruin pitchers’ preparations for the season, interleague play and horribly unbalanced schedules, a ridiculous Free Agent compensation deal that doesn’t help anyone, and a 2nd wild card forced 163rd game play-in piece of crap nonsense to try to make some more money. What a freakin disgrace. Bud Selig needs to get the f*&k out of here. He’s done everything he possibly can to ruin baseball. What a damn joke.
greggofboken
2/19/2013-7:01pm at 7:01 pm (UTC -4)
The DH would make me ill. I see games from time to time at Yankee Stadium and they’re like watching paint dry. Everyone sitting around waiting for the 10-second thrill of a home run. Torpor. No thanks.
TX
2/19/2013-7:08pm at 7:08 pm (UTC -4)
Plus American league games are almost 30 mins+ more than National league games. Not sure if the DH makes it such.
kingman 26
2/19/2013-7:11pm at 7:11 pm (UTC -4)
Remember Dark, to add to your impressive list of horrors, that the ONLY reason for the recent expansion has been the fat checks the expansion fees put into the pockets of existing owners.
Absolutely the only reason it was done.
The DBacks paid their fees and became a team and starting selling tshirts in 1995–THREE full years before they played their first game. I got one in Las Vegas in 1995 and would wear it sometimes at shows my band would play in Seattle and see how many people would ask me who the hell they were!
But really, who can be contracted? I do not think contraction is a reasonable or realistic solution. Ownership ridiculously expanded, and while the DBacks and Rays have both been successful teams, should some other team that has been around for decades (Astros? Padres?) be contracted?
If they really were going to even consider it, to me it would have to be teams that do not try to win, such as the Royals or the Marlins with their disgusting, deceitful owners.
But it is unfair to contract any team–every single team has a huge number of fans, and while the Mets were atrocious and laughable during my formative Met period of the late 1970s, I would have been a devastated kid had they been contracted and probably would have hated baseball forever.
And what if the Expos had been contracted? The Nats have one of the game’s best young cores right now.
Hazmet
2/19/2013-7:36pm at 7:36 pm (UTC -4)
I wear my Albuquerque Isotope hat when I want to get a rise out of either milb or Simpsons fans.
darknova306
2/19/2013-7:39pm at 7:39 pm (UTC -4)
Teams have left their home cities plenty of times in the past (though with contraction they’d fade into the aether instead moving to another coast). I know that precedent isn’t a justification for contraction, though.
I just really don’t want MLB to dumb the game down even more just to compensate for the failures of their past decisions. Hopefully Bud realizes how much damage he’s done to this game before he goes fully senile. He’s a disgrace.
greggofboken
2/19/2013-8:31pm at 8:31 pm (UTC -4)
Hazmet: Nice work! I wear my Isotopes cap proudly. A friend once ran their accounting dept when their pitching staff boasted Nate Bump, Brad Clontz, and Matt Blank. My other favorite to spot is the flannel cap from the Newark Peppers of the Federal League (1914-15). No one ever identifies it (though in fairness it does resemble something a guy selling ice cream might be more at home in.)
kingman 26
2/19/2013-8:41pm at 8:41 pm (UTC -4)
The Newark Peppers!
AWESOME!
Wow. I grew up about 5 miles from Newark and love NJ history, and did not know of this team. Thanks for motivating me to learn about them Gregg!
Really hope you will be here for the upcoming season.
greggofboken
2/19/2013-8:54pm at 8:54 pm (UTC -4)
Kingman….No kidding? Verona native here. And formerly a resident and frequenter of Newark (a tiny not-for-profit theater company there from the mid-80′s to early-90′s. Very small world! I’ve enjoyed my foray here at RDM. There’s good talk to be had. I found the Peppers cap at Ebbets Field Flannels — a neat resource if you collect.
kingman 26
2/19/2013-9:11pm at 9:11 pm (UTC -4)
Gregg-Born in East Orange and grew up in Livingston…my dad worked in Newark in the late 1960s and early 1970s and I still feel a special attachment to the city.
My grandparents lived in Verona in the 1980s and 1990s. Not too far from the old White Castle and very near the Pilgrim Diner.
srt
2/19/2013-9:13pm at 9:13 pm (UTC -4)
Just say no to the DH. Hope the NL never adopts it.
greggofboken
2/19/2013-9:16pm at 9:16 pm (UTC -4)
Very very cool — my dad’s office was in E.O. And i know the stretch of Pompton Ave. you’re describing. My time in Newark was split between the Ironbound, which I had a great affinity for, and the area around Rutgers and the Newark Library — a stone’s throw from where the Bears now play.
gategem
2/19/2013-9:52pm at 9:52 pm (UTC -4)
Baseball is following in the footsteps of the success of the NFL. For the vast majority of revenue producing fans the changes you describe hold little significance. When the concerns of the purists are raised these people as well as the Lords of Baseball couldn’t care less. The Lords of baseball worry about revenues and the fans enjoy the increased entertainment that higher scoring games bring them. The extra WC team helps retain fan interest well into September that would otherwise turn to football. So expect the DH in the NL and the addition of perhaps even another WC team or two.
darknova306
2/19/2013-10:06pm at 10:06 pm (UTC -4)
Kong and Gate bring forth the only argument that will matter in the development of baseball, regardless of how anyone feels: revenue. I’m a capitalist at heart, so I fully understand: if the demand is there, the supply will eventually move to meet it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. It just means that most fans disagree with what I want, which makes them idiots
I’ll say this, in the eventuality that baseball goes the ridiculous route of the NBA and NHL and brings the postseason up to 14-16 teams, my fandom will be tested as much as if the Mets were to move to California. I just hope that the chill of Fall in northern cities keeps them from extending the postseason too much more.
TX
2/20/2013-12:08am at 12:08 am (UTC -4)
The only 2 teams i see can be contracted would Miami and Oakland. TB can then relocate to Miami. Houston sucks, but they are the 4th largest market.
I picked those two clubs cause their owners suck.
TRS86
2/20/2013-10:10am at 10:10 am (UTC -4)
They have to uniform the rules but I expect some type of hybrid of the system. I don’t know exactly what.
Perhaps you expand rosters to 26 for one.
Then the DH only comes into play once the starter is removed? I am not exactly sure how it would work but you are going to have to pacify the players union in some way or you just get stuck with the AL rules.
TRS86
2/20/2013-10:06am at 10:06 am (UTC -4)
OK so perhaps we can trade for Soriano and then send Duda to the Brewers who are looking for a 1B and get back Gomez somehow.
Then you have
Gomez, Tejada, Wright, Davis, Soriano, Murphy, Buck and Kirk/RF of the day. Much better.
TX
2/20/2013-10:16am at 10:16 am (UTC -4)
I’d take that for a dollar.
kingman 26
2/20/2013-11:22am at 11:22 am (UTC -4)
To me, while this is not the 1986 Mets or the Big Red Machine, it is SO much better, really for having Murph down in the 6 hole where he belongs, and a real 3-4-5.
TRS86
2/20/2013-11:31am at 11:31 am (UTC -4)
I like all the way through 6 and if TDA is as advertised you would go 7 deep with decent hitters.
TX
2/20/2013-12:05pm at 12:05 pm (UTC -4)
Does Milwaukee have someone else that can play CF?
Stick
2/20/2013-12:35pm at 12:35 pm (UTC -4)
I like it too, and you know that I am aboard the Gomez train with you.
problem is, he is a 1 year rental, so how much are you willing to give up for him? because Boras guys are not known for negotiating an extension going into their walk year!
Tex, if there is one thing the Mets have extra of, it is CF guys (not good ones mind you) to send back as part of an expanded deal.
TX
2/20/2013-12:43pm at 12:43 pm (UTC -4)
I understand that, for sure. Duda, Kirk + someone from the minors? Gorski? For Gomez and maybe a toss in? Expand it to get Hart too? Though he is on the DL and is a FA next year as well…
darknova306
2/20/2013-12:00pm at 12:00 pm (UTC -4)
I like that lineup a heck of a lot more than the current one.
Stick
2/20/2013-12:38pm at 12:38 pm (UTC -4)
Real, I still wonder though (and don’t core me over this!) if the FO actually cares enough to be trying to come up with creative ideas like this, or if they have the balls to try and pull it off. It honestly seems they will spend months methodically plugging along on one obvious move, then fold up at the end instead of making a big bet.
Do you think Sandy and JP are skypeing away, trying to work out packages to present to Milwaukee? Or trolling the Cubs?
Brewers especially could even be a move for the future.
TRS86
2/20/2013-12:40pm at 12:40 pm (UTC -4)
It depends on the cost. Yes I think they care enough… if it does 2 things. One if it doesn’t harm the overall development of the kids. So are you giving up top prospects in either deal? If so, it’s a no go. Two would the increase in payroll translate to an increase in ticket sales?
wanny
2/20/2013-1:37pm at 1:37 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t love the idea of Gomez and Soriano in the same outfield. That would leave the Mets with an athletic outfield with some power and speed — but not one guy who can be reasonably expected to get on base with any regularity.
By the way, who said Milwaukee would have any interest in Duda? That could have gotten Mike Carp, substantially the same thing, without having to trade a guy like Gomez.
Stick
2/20/2013-2:19pm at 2:19 pm (UTC -4)
missed that they picked up Carp. Though he does pretty much stink too, so not like he is much of an upgrade over whoever they already had laying around.
TX
2/20/2013-2:22pm at 2:22 pm (UTC -4)
Boston got Carp.
Stick
2/20/2013-2:24pm at 2:24 pm (UTC -4)
Ah. Now I see Wanny’s “could have”. Though at this point, not sure they are the same guy. But a fair point, with the minor exception of they could not have gotten Carp if Boston claimed him 1st!
gategem
2/20/2013-1:54pm at 1:54 pm (UTC -4)
I’ve always loved the fans use of the word “creative.” Pull deals out of your rear and other teams will automatically comply. All Sandy has to learn is:
“We are The Borg, …you must comply, resistance is futile…”
Stick
2/20/2013-2:22pm at 2:22 pm (UTC -4)
well, that is not what I meant by creative, but I think you know that.
obviously deals have to be fair and interest the other team. But “creative” could simply be a 3 way deal, or 2 moves kind of contingent on each other. As in trading one LF for something, and trading something else for a differnt LF. not every move has to be a 1-> 1 “fix” of a hole!
gategem
2/20/2013-3:34pm at 3:34 pm (UTC -4)
My comment was not aimed specifically at any one individual. The term “creative” is used rather liberally on the internet only exceeded in use by the word “plenty.” The complexity of arranging a multiple team, multiple player trade followed by another trade contingent on the first trade is considered by fans to be a trivial matter that any creative and sagacious GM arranges with ease. Just ask the “core.”
Stick
2/20/2013-4:33pm at 4:33 pm (UTC -4)
I prefer not to ask the core anything, since there is zippo chance they will give a logical answer.
instead of creative, does out of the box sound better? Does not have to be overly complicated with many moving parts, but sometimes you can fill a need from an unexpected source.
“standard” thinking would be we need a CF, bourn is the only one, so you have to sign him or the world ends. Even though there are probably lots of other moves that could be made to fill or minimize that need.
gategem
2/20/2013-6:13pm at 6:13 pm (UTC -4)
Trades are initiated all the time. Sometimes it’s by pure happenstance and sometimes by contacting another GM and laying the foundation. You would hope your GM has an open mind and is willing to explore various trade scenarios. But I believe much of the complicated or “creative” trade ideas occur spontaneously. Fans just have to understand that more than just on the field considerations govern the completion of a trade and so the GMs have to be circumspect. For example in 1947, Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees GM Larry MacPhail, over drinks, verbally agreed to trade DiMaggio for Ted Williams. But after thinking it over MacPhail refused to include Yogi Berra in the trade which killed the trade.